The present invention relates to an electric connector which is for electrically connecting the wires in a motor vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to a connector including a male housing, a female housing and a cam member operable for performing a fitting operation wherein the male housing and the female housing are fitted to each other and released from the fitting state by actuating the cam member.
FIG. 4 shows a conventional electric connector disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 61-203581/86 (the term "OPI" as used herein means an "unexamined published application") and including a female housing a, a male housing b, and a double-armed cam member c for fastening the housings to each other. Metal terminals (not shown) are received in each of the female housing a and the male housing b both of which constitute a pair of connectors.
The female housing a includes a main body a.sub.1 on which guide openings a.sub.2 for guiding and sliding the cam member c are formed. Driving projections c.sub.1 are provided on the mutually-opposite inner surfaces of the U-shaped cam member c so as to be engaged in the guide openings a.sub.2 of the female housing a and extend into the main body a.sub.1.
In addition, inclined driven grooves b.sub.2 extending from introduction grooves b.sub.1 are formed on the mutually-opposite outer surfaces of the male housing b so that the driving projections c.sub.1 are engaged with the introduction grooves b.sub.1 and the inclined driven grooves b.sub.2.
With such construction as mentioned above, when the female and the male housings a and b are to be fastened to each other with the cam member c, the cam member c is fitted on the female housing a and the male housing b is positioned in front of the female housing a so that the introduction groves b.sub.1 of the male housing are opposed to the driving projections c.sub.1 of the cam member c, as shown in FIG. 5(a). The male housing b is then pushed into the female housing a so that the driving projections c.sub.1 are moved to the outer ends of the inclined driven grooves b.sub.2 through the introduction grooves b.sub.1, as shown in FIG. 5(b). The cam member c is then moved rightward with regard to the drawings so that the driving projection c.sub.1 are moved from the outer ends of the inclined driven groove b.sub.2 to the inner ends thereof to pull the male housing b deeper into the female housing a, as shown in FIG. 5(c). The housings a and b are thus fastened to each other using cam member c to electrically connect the metal terminals to each other.
In this conventional art, if the driving projections c1 of the cam member c fail to be moved from the outer ends of the inclined driven grooves b.sub.2 of the male housing b to the inner ends of the grooves, but rather stop halfway therein, the female and the male housings a and b are incompletely fastened to each other.